Reuters
Miami, March 27: Spaniard Rafa Nadal retired from his second-round match at the Miami Open here Saturday due to a bout of dizziness, while Andy Murray advanced despite blowing hit top at an umpire after finding a women’s ball among those he was using.
Meanwhile in the women’s category, top seed Serena Williams continued her progress towards a ninth Miami title and in the process notched up her 750th career win on the WTA circuit.
Sporadic boos broke out when 14-time Grand Slam champion Nadal decided he could not continue in the third set after feeling ill in typically humid conditions in south Florida.
Nadal trailed 94th-ranked Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 4-6, 0-3, with the Bosnian 30-15 up on serve, when he called it a day. It was the first time Nadal had quit during a match since a quarterfinal against Murray at the 2010 Australian Open.
In the night session, Briton Murray had a heated exchange with the chair umpire en route to a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Uzbek Denis Istomin.
Murray faced breakpoint at 2-2 in the second set when he noticed that a women’s ball had somehow got into the mix. Women use different balls at the Miami Open, and they have a red stamping to differentiate them.
“That’s unbelievable. That’s one of the women’s balls. I could have just hit a shot with it,” Murray complained. But he got over it quickly to close out the match.
No. 4 Stan Wawrinka was the highest seed to lose Saturday after the Swiss was sent packing 4-6, 3-6 by Russian Andrey Kuznetsov, who saved eight breakpoints. In another match, sixth seed Kei Nishikori of Japan moved on after beating Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-2 7-6(4).
Meanwhile, Serena had an easy outing with a 7-5, 6-3 demolition of Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan. Her overall record now stands at 750-125, seventh on the all-time list and just three match wins behind Lindsay Davenport’s 753. Martina Navratilova sits atop the all-time list with 1,442 wins.
The 34-year-old Williams will meet Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round. The 15th seed defeated France’s Caroline Garcia 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(8-6).
In another tie, Ekaterina Makarova, the 30th seed, upset eighth seed Czech Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-4.
